It's been widely reported and that makes it fact-esque. - Stephen Colbert

Move the HAVA Deadline Blogswarm Roll Call

In an act of the purest optimism I am going to start the official count of blogs participating in the first post-Alito blogswarm. This one happens to be about a little thing I like to call Our Franchise, how we've lost it and how we're going to get it back.

So far the following blogs have thrown their full support behind the Fitzpatrick Amendment and the Coalition for Voting Integrity, which proposed the legislation to the Congressman. The bill will move the HAVA deadline past the 2006 primaries. It's a very small step but it establishes precedent and it will allow some counties who are struggling to do the right thing (get a voter-verified paper ballot) some extra time to see if they can do it.

While you're here, please donate to the Coaltion for Voting Integrity, which is the nonpartisan citizens' group that got this legislation going in the first place. We have legal bills related to a lawsuit we've brought against PA over inconsistent certification standards, which is another big issue in this whole HAVA mess. You can donate here.

Avedon Carol, who is bringing in some Daou Report traffic too, supports a verfied vote.

Pavlov Chien, who weighs in in defense of "state-of-the-art non-verifiable voting" and makes a good case if you're on the wrong side of polling numbers. I would also add that non-verifiable voting makes it easier to get through the daily grind. All that worrying about participating in democracy is stressful.

That's better.

I'm very grateful to all those who participated. If you're a blogger who missed the boat, don't despair - we'll be fighting to regain the vote tomorrow too.

Please call your members of Congress today and every day until we get this amendment passed. And then call until we have voter-verified paper ballots and proper auditing nationwide. Then you can rest and enjoy knowing that the person we elected is the person who will take office instead of what we've been enduring for the last five, long, long, terrible years.

Bang for the Buck: Boosting the American Economy

Compassionate Conservatism in Action

Molly

"We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war."

Zinn

"[O]ur time, our energy, should be spent in educating, agitating, organizing our fellow citizens in the workplace, in the neighborhood, in the schools. Our objective should be to build, painstakingly, patiently but energetically, a movement that, when it reaches a certain critical mass, would shake whoever is in the White House, in Congress, into changing national policy on matters of war and social justice."

Bono

"True religion will not let us fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom. Love thy neighbor is not a piece of advice, it's a command. ...

God, my friends, is with the poor and God is with us, if we are with them. This is not a burden, this is an adventure."

The Reverend Al Sharpton

Ray wasn't singing about what he knew, 'cause Ray had been blind since he was a child. He hadn't seen many purple mountains. He hadn't seen many fruited plains. He was singing about what he believed to be.

Mr. President, we love America, not because of all of us have seen the beauty all the time.

But we believed if we kept on working, if we kept on marching, if we kept on voting, if we kept on believing, we would make America beautiful for everybody.

Marx

''With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10 percent will ensure its employment anywhere; 20 percent will produce eagerness, 50 percent positive audacity; 100 percent will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300 percent, and there is not a crime which it will not scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged.''